In an announcement today, March 2, 2010 as reported by the Associated Press, the families of Lebanese victims of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409, which crashed on January 25, killing all 90 persons aboard the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, are planning to file a multimillion dollar lawsuit against The Boeing Company, a Chicago based major aerospace corporation. A delegation of family members met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other officials at the government palace earlier today in Beirut.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, fourth from right, with other Lebanese ministers and officials meets with the families of victims who were killed in the Ethiopian plane crashed on January 25, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday March 2, 2010 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla); (BELOW RIGHT) Debris field on beach south of Beirut from ET409 crash on January 26, 2010 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla); (BELOW LEFT) Ribbeck Law firm conference in Beirut on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla); (BELOW RIGHT LOWER) Lebanon's Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi shows photographs from the wreckage of ET409 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil); (BELOW LEFT LOWER) Captain Habtamu Benti Negasa
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According to Monica R. Kelly of the Chicago-based firm of Ribbeck Law, "We have filed, in Chicago, a petition for discovery which in this case was filed against the Boeing Corporation because it is the manufacturer of the plane. We have started this discovery process in Illinois, where Boeing is based. We will file a lawsuit as soon as we have enough permission from the documents that we are going to receive."
Ms. Kelly added that she and a colleague as well as a Canadian aviation expert, Max Vermij, have been in Beirut for two weeks where they met 30 relatives of the Lebanese victims. She added that they were also in contact with several Ethiopian relatives of plane victims.
Fifty-one Lebanese and 31 Ethiopians were killed in the crash, as well as 8 persons from Canada, U.K., Syria, Iraq, France, Russia and Turkey.
This sharp reversal of course is even stranger than the "fast and strange turn" comments originally made my Lebanese Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi on January 26, blaming ET409 Ethiopian pilot, Captain Habtamu Benti Negasa, for not following Air Traffic Control departure instructions. Other statements had blamed the crash on a terrible thunderstorm and mechanical problems. It appears that the assessment of blame has come full circle, even before any official findings have been released.
According to statements made by Canadian aviation authority Max Vermij, it was unlikely that pilot error was the single cause of the incident. “The loss of control in flight is nearly always initiated by a mechanical failure of the aircraft. Pilot error is not the primary cause in those kind of crashes. This crash is a loss of control in flight,” said Vermij, who has over 30 years experience in investigating air disasters.
He added that the evidence so far obtained on the flight was “not in line with any type of pilot error that I have experienced.”
Vermij also is troubled by the truthfulness of some reports on the discovery of flight recorders in which the memory drum was located separately from the rest of the CVR.
“I know that with this particular crash it was reported that the memory unit had separated from the black box and I have never encountered any such situation,” he said.
We has earlier reported from an interview with a Honeywell Aerospace engineer, one of the principal suppliers of Cockpit Voice Recorders, that such separation, though rare, may occur.
Attorney Manuel von Ribbeck, whose firm has allegedly begun a multi-million dollar proceeding against Boeing stated in comments reported by Patrick Galey of the English language Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, “We have officially requested meeting with [the investigation’s] legal representatives to discuss access to the evidence. We represent the families of the victims of this crash; there is no one in the world more entitled to know what went wrong than they are.”
According to Mr. Ribbeck, and British attorney James Healy-Pratt of Stewarts Law LLP in London, the results of official investigations are not relevant in establishing liability for a crash, which is a separate legal process.
BEA, an agency of the French government, is conducting the official investigation and crash analysis, and is charged under ICAO, Annex 13, Chapter 3, Article 3.1 which states that "The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability."
Preliminary findings are expected to be released to Lebanese authorities at any moment.
The Airlines/Airport Examiner has contacted Ribbeck Law, Chartered in Chicago, Illinois by telephone and email and is awaiting a response from them. We will report additional information as it becomes known.
We would like to hear your thoughts. Please leave comments below or by email and subscribe to get future updates.
Comments
Very interesting developments in the investigation. I will continue to follow future announcements posted here with great interest...
Look forward to more reports on this interesting story.
"This sharp reversal of course is even stranger than the 'fast and strange turn' comments originally made my Lebanese Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi." He should be ashamed of his previous comment to declare it as a 'pilot error'....
Once again nice job Jeol I'll be in line for your future articles
Wow. And the plot thickens...
It is a great shame for the Lebanese government to release unfounded information for the news. It can be a mechanical control system loss, engine shut down or external force that
makes the plane crash, though this next generation airplane has many
redundant and closed loap control systems that nearly makes confidence for not having a tchnical problem. However, the integration of two or three of the suspected causes may have the crash out come especially in the take off phase of the flight. i like the news status here and i will follow up every news posted here after wards.
Good report
The plot indeed thickens. I'm surprised that this report does not mention any other possible causes such as the plane being hit by a rocket, missile or blown up by a bomb planted in the plane.
when people want to believe in a plot or conspiracy and they have these assumptions in mind, then they will try to explain everthing the way they want, to justify it or give it a proof. stop the adhoc baseless accusations -at least if want to do better than the lebanese government you are currently blaming for its baseless remarks
<<This sharp reversal of course is even stranger than the "fast and strange turn" comments originally made my Lebanese Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi on January 26, blaming ET409 Ethiopian pilot, Captain Habtamu Benti Negasa, for not following Air Traffic Control departure instructions.>> Wow! great comment!
our authorities should quikly learn from their mistake! Let`s hope they will tell us the truth when the preliminary findings is released.Just not to make another big mistake at least for the sake of their people.
And now, here comes the sharp-toothed American law firm detecting the smell of big money. It wants to sue Boeing, even though nothing, so far, proves the plane was faulty.
The lawyers know that big companies, even when innocent, often prefer an out-of-court settlement in order to avoid bad publicity. It is legal blackmail.
I was involved with the recovery effort. The memory unit was bolted to the frame with 4 bolts. Three of them sheared. The fourth was still there with the broken off corner of the memory unit still hanging on it. The memory unit broke away from the rest of the "black box". Most likely when aircraft impacted water. No conspiracy. It just broke.
Sounds like shysters and greedy relatives smell money. It sounds like greedy people want to ignore the actual evidence from the actual investigation based on actual facts; and instead sue based on wild conjecture without the facts; based on very unreliable eyewitness testimony.
From what I’ve heard eye witnesses claimed that the aircraft was on fire and or exploded when it went down; yet so far all the evidence I’ve seen shows that the aircraft was not on fire when it impacted. So far what I see the hard evidence seems to contradict eyewitness testimony.
What a confusion!!! I think all this beating around the bush is to protect the one who coused this damage, firts it was the pilot's error and now it became a mechanical failure why all this lies, I am sure that they are shelding the truth to avoid what comes if the truth revealed.
It always irks me when the Lawyers wade in to these investigations so quickly.
As a maintenance engineer of 737's i know the aircraft and very well.
The reality is that the aircraft is very robust and well designed. For the aircraft to suffer a mechanical failure serious enough to make the aircraft fall out of the sky is highly unlikley. All critical systems have redundancy, if a system fails, a second system will protect the integrity and flyability of the aircraft. What this lawyer is refering to is a multiple system failure that has never occured on a 737NG if this was the case it would so incredibly rare that the chances of it happening again would be virtually impossible.
The are opening the case of fualt toward Boeing without any factual evidence because Boeing has money. When the likleyhodd is that all Boeing is guilty of is making the plane.
Boeiing cannot be held responsible if the pilot does not fly the aircraft properly.
Also a 737 has never exploded midair
I was involved with the search effort also and had complete access to all aspects of the recovery. It has been completely documented on camera, and I too can confirm the second data recorder was in two pieces. The cylindrical 2nd piece had sheared away from the electronics section as reported. Shame it wasn't a plane full of lawyers!
Very thorough report. You have the best coverage of this, great work.
Big companies hate lawsuits. Whether they win or lose them, they're always bad for their image. Some American law firms make millions with that. They first file a lawsuit and start giving it a lot of publicity to put the firm under pressure. Then they propose to drop the lawsuit against a big sum of money. That's why Boeing is attacked, even before BEA has reached any conclusion. The way some lawyers make money is really disgusting.
I , more than ever, appreciate the journalist. This is an investigative type of report. I think this reporter did more than Ethiopian officials in trying to find the truth. Really appreciable expert. Good reporting Mr journalist
thank you
Regarding comments below by Marks on March 4, at 4:23 PM:
Thank you very much for your support and kind words. It is very encouraging to receive such wonderful feedback.
For anyone reading this who understands Amharic, please see the next dispatch which has links to a Voice of America (VOA) interview in which I participated. There are also brief segments on it in English.
Also, Marks and everyone, please use the subscribe button located at the top of every article to get automatic notices whenever a new posting appears. That way, you will be certain of not missing any reports and updates.
Thanks again and cheers!
Regarding comments by Martin, Malcolm, Pierre Bonardi, and others on actions by lawyers described in this article, first of all, thank you for expressing your thoughts.
I am working on a detailed report that will give more information on certain attorneys, if I am permitted to publish it. I would caution any family member who has lost a loved one in this accident to please use your best judgement when choosing an attorney, and not be rushed or pressured into signing any documents.
I have been told by a very reliable source that this case will never be tried in any U.S. or British courtroom. Under international law, the only countries with legal standing are Lebanon and Ethiopia. That fact aside, I am assured that this case will never come to trial.
No lawsuit has been filed against Boeing, nor is Boeing likely to cave in to blackmail and settle charges that have no merit or basis in facts. At this point, I am very limited in what I may disclose. Hope this helps.
Very interesting article. Good job!
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